work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
4475,"",Searching in Google Books,2012-01-22 17:35:12 UTC,"Secondly, Neither doth every Involuntary Phantasm, or such as the Soul is not Conscious to it self to have purposely excited or raised up within it self, seem to be a Sensation or Perception of a thing, as existing without us; for there may be Straggling Phantasms, which come into the Mind we know not how; and bubble up of themselves, which yet the Soul may distinguish from Sensations or Perceptions of things, as existing really without it; because of some other Phantasms at the same time in the Soul, whose Vigours and Lustre do cloud and eclipse them. For when there are Phantasms of several Kinds at the same time in the Soul, or such as arise from different Motions of the Spirits, the Soul silently comparing both together, naturally looks upon the more vigorous, strong, and permanent of those Phantasms only as Real Existences; but the more Faint, Flitting and Transitory, as Imaginary things. Now there are two kinds of Involuntary Phantasms, as I have already intimated, in the Soul, when we are awake. One that proceeds from such Motions of the Spirits as are caused by the Nerves moved from the Objects without: Another that proceeds from the Spirits of the Brain, otherwise moved than by the Nerves: And therefore when we are awake, and have Phantasms of both these kinds together in the Soul, those Phantasms that arise from the Motions of the Nerves caused by the Objects without, appearing very different from those other Phantasms that arise from the Spirits otherwise moved than by the Nerves, both in respect of their Vigour and Constancy, do therefore to all such Persons, as are not distempered either in Body or in Mind, naturally seem to be Real, or Things existing without the Soul, but the latter Imaginary. Whereas in Sleep, when the Nerves being relaxated, communicate no Motion to the Spirits, the very same Phantasms (there being now no other and Stronger to compare with them and discredit or disgrace them) do naturally appear to the Soul as Sensations of things Really existing without the Soul.
(III.iv.5, pp. 119-121)",,19478,"","""Secondly, Neither doth every Involuntary Phantasm, or such as the Soul is not Conscious to it self to have purposely excited or raised up within it self, seem to be a Sensation or Perception of a thing, as existing without us; for there may be Straggling Phantasms, which come into the Mind we know not how; and bubble up of themselves, which yet the Soul may distinguish from Sensations or Perceptions of things, as existing really without it; because of some other Phantasms at the same time in the Soul, whose Vigours and Lustre do cloud and eclipse them.""","",2012-01-22 17:35:12 UTC,"Book III, Chapter iv"
4475,"",Searching in Google Books,2012-01-22 19:20:23 UTC,"Now if Sense it self be not Knowledge, much less can any Secondary or Derivative Result from Sense be Knowledge; for this would be a more Obscure, Shadowy and Evanid Thing than Sense it self is. As when the Image of a Man's Face, received in a Mirror or Looking-glass, is reflected from thence into a Second Mirror, and so forward into a Third; still the further it goes, the more Obscure, Confused and imperfect it grows, till at last it becomes altogether imperceptible. Or as in the Circlings and Undulations of Water, caused by the falling of a Stone into it, that are successively propagated from one to another; the further and wider they go, the Waves are still the less, slower and weaker, till at length they become quite undiscernable. Or as a Secondary Echo, that is, the Echo of an Echo, falls as much short of the Primary Echo in Proportion, as that doth of the Original Voice. Or, Lastly, If we could suppose a Shadow to cast a Shadow, this Secondary Shadow, or Projection of a Shadow, would fall as much short of the Primary Shadow, as that did of the Substance it self. So if the Knowledge of Corporeal Things were but a Secondary and Derivative Result from Sense, (though it cannot be conceived that the Passion of Sense should ray upon the Intellect, so as to beget a Secondary Passion there, any more than one Shadow should cast another) then Knowledge would be much a Weaker Perception of them than Sense it self is, and nothing but as it were the Secondary Reflection of an Image, or the Remote Cyclings and Undulations of the fluid Water, or the meer Echo of the Echo of an Original Voice: Or, Lastly, nothing but the Shadow of the Shadow of a Substance. Whereas it is a far more real, substantial and satisfactory, more penetrative and comprehensive Perception than Sense is, reaching to the Very Inward Essence of the Things perceived. And therefore it must of Necessity proceed from the Active Power of the Mind it self, exerting its own Intelligible Ideas upon that which is Passively perceived, and so comprehending it by something of its own that is Native and Domestick to it. So that besides the Sensations or Phantasms, the Sensible Ideas of Corporeal Things passively impressed upon us from without, there must be also Conceptions, or Intelligible Ideas of them Actively Exerted from the Mind it self; or otherwise they could never be Understood.
(IV.iii.2, pp. 190-2)",,19505,Metaphors worked out in greater detail above. I've only included once.,"""So if the Knowledge of Corporeal Things were but a Secondary and Derivative Result from Sense, (though it cannot be conceived that the Passion of Sense should ray upon the Intellect, so as to beget a Secondary Passion there, any more than one Shadow should cast another) then Knowledge would be much a Weaker Perception of them than Sense it self is, and nothing but as it were the Secondary Reflection of an Image, or the Remote Cyclings and Undulations of the fluid Water, or the meer Echo of the Echo of an Original Voice: Or, Lastly, nothing but the Shadow of the Shadow of a Substance.""",Optics,2012-01-22 19:20:23 UTC,"Book IV, Chapter iii"
7498,"",C-H Lion,2013-07-01 18:16:44 UTC,"The third species of Invention, by which we observed original Genius will be distinguished, is that of IMAGERY. The stile of an original Author in Poetry is for the most Part FIGURATIVE and METAPHORICAL. The ordinary modes of speech being unable to express the grandeur or the strength of his conceptions, appear FLAT and LANGUID to his ardent Imagination. In order therefore to supply the poverty of common language, he has recourse to METAPHORS and IMAGES; which, though they may sometimes occasion the want of precision, will always elevate his stile, as well as give a peculiar dignity and energy to his sentiments. An original Author indeed will frequently be apt to exceed in the use of this ornament, by pouring forth such a blaze of imagery, as to dazzle and overpower the mental sight; the effect of which is, that his Writings become obscure, if not unintelligible to common Readers; just as the eye is for some time rendered incapable of distinguishing the objects that are presented to it, after having stedfastly contemplated the Sun. Well chosen images, happily adapted to the purpose for which they are adduced, if not too frequently employed, produce a fine effect in Poetry. They impart a pleasing gratification to the mind, arising from the discovery of the resemblance betwixt the similitude and the object to which it is compared; they remarkably enliven description, at the same time that they embellish it with additional graces; they give force as well as grandeur to the stile of Poetry, and are a principal source of those exquisite sensations, which it is calculated to inspire. On the other hand, the too liberal use of IMAGERY even in Poetry (besides that obscurity which it occasions to the ordinary class of Readers, as well as that fatigue which the Imagination experiences from its excessive glare) so disgusts the mind with the perpetual labour of tracing relations and resemblances, which cannot always be immediately perceived, that the tide of passion is by this means diverted, if it doth not subside, and the pleasure arising from poetic imitation is greatly diminished, if not utterly destroyed. A Writer however, who is only possessed of a moderate degree of Genius, is in very little hazard of falling into this extreme. His imagination is not extensive enough to comprehend those remote analogies which subsist betwixt different objects in nature, nor does it possess force sufficient to throw off a bold and glowing image founded upon such analogies: the performances of such an Author therefore will either be intirely destitute of the images of Poetry, excepting such as arise from the most obvious relations of ideas; of else those which he adopts will be borrowed from Authors of superior Genius. Hence it is, that the images of Homer have been so often copied by modern Poets, who either possessed not fertility of Invention enough to strike out new similitudes for themselves, or dared not to exert it. A Poet endued with a truly original Genius, will however be under no necessity of drawing any of the materials of his composition from the Works of preceding Bards; since he has an unfailing resource in the exuberance of his own Imagination, which will furnish him with a redundance of all those materials, and particularly with an inexhaustible variety of new and splendid imagery, which must be regarded as one distinguishing mark of original poetic Genius.
(pp. 143-8)",,21379,"","""On the other hand, the too liberal use of IMAGERY even in Poetry (besides that obscurity which it occasions to the ordinary class of Readers, as well as that fatigue which the Imagination experiences from its excessive glare) so disgusts the mind with the perpetual labour of tracing relations and resemblances, which cannot always be immediately perceived, that the tide of passion is by this means diverted, if it doth not subside, and the pleasure arising from poetic imitation is greatly diminished, if not utterly destroyed.""","",2013-07-01 18:16:44 UTC,""
7541,"",Reading; text from DocSouth,2013-07-11 21:40:44 UTC,"THERE is something so amazingly grand--so stupendously affecting--in the contemplating the works of the Divine Architect, either in the moral, or the intellectual world, that I think one may rightly call it the cordial of the soul--it is the physic of the mind-- and the best antidote against weak pride--and the supercilious murmurings of discontent.--Smoaking my morning pipe, the friendly warmth of that glorious planet the sun--the leniency of the air--the chearful glow of the atmosphere--made me involuntarily cry, ""Lord, ""what is man, that thou in thy mercy ""art so mindful of him! or what the son ""of man, that thou so parentally carest ""for him!"" David, whose heart and affections were naturally of the first kind (and who indeed had experienced blessings without number) pours fourth the grateful sentiments of his enraptured soul in the sweetest modulations of pathetic oratory;--the tender mercies of the Almighty are not less to many of his creatures--but their hearts--unlike the royal disposition of the shepherd King, are cold, and untouched with the sweet ray of gratitude.--Let us, without meanly sheltering our infirmities under the example of others--perhaps worse taught--or possessed of less leisure for self-examination--let us, my dear M----, look into ourselves--and by a critical examination of the past events of our lives, fairly confess what mercies we have received--what God in his goodness hath done for us--and how our gratitude and praise have kept pace in imitation of the son of Jesse.--Such a research would richly pay us--for the end would be conviction--so much on the side of miraculous mercy--such an unanswerable proof of the superintendency of Divine Providence, as would effectually cure us of rash despondency--and melt our hearts--with devotional aspirations--till we poured forth the effusions of our souls in praise and thanksgiving.--When I sometimes endeavour to turn my thoughts inwards, to review the power or properties the indulgent all-wise Father has endow'd me with, I am struck with wonder and with awe--worm, poor insignificant reptile as I am, with regard to superior beings--mortal like myself.--Amongst, and at the very head of our riches, I reckon the power of reflection:--Where? where, my friend, doth it lie?--Search every member from the toe to the nose--all--all ready for action--but all dead to thought--it lies not in matter--nor in the blood--it is a party, which though we feel and acknowledge, quite past the power of definition--it is that breath of life which the Sacred Architect breathed into the nostrils of the first man--image of his gracious Maker--and let it animate our torpid gratitude--it rolls on, although diminished by our cruel fall, through the whole race--""We are fearfully and wonderfully made,"" &c. &c. were the sentiments of the Royal Preacher upon a self-review--but had he been blessed with the full blaze of the Christian dispensation--what would have been his raptures?--the promise of never, never-ending existence and felicity, to possess eternity--""glorious dreadful thought!""--to rise, perhaps, by regular progression from planet to planet--to behold the wonders of immensity--to pass from good to better--increasing in goodness--knowledge--love--to glory in our Redeemer--to joy in ourselves--to be acquainted with prophets, sages, heroes, and poets of old times--and join in symphony with angels.--And now, my friend, thou smilest at my futile notions--why preach to thee?--For this very good and simple reason, to get your thoughts in return.--You shall be my philosopher--my Mentor--my friend;--you, happily disengaged from various cares of life and family, can review the little world of man with steadier eye, and more composed thought, than your friend, declining fast into the vale of years, and beset with infirmity and pain.--Write now and then, as thought prompts, and inclination leads--refute my errors--where I am just give me your plaudit.--Your welfare in truly dear in my sight--and if any man has a share in my heart, or commands my respect and esteem, it is I---- M----.
(I.xliv, pp. 123-7; pp. 87-9)
",,21684,"[fixing OCR error: ""all-wife,"" ""fight""]","""Such a research would richly pay us--for the end would be conviction--so much on the side of miraculous mercy--such an unanswerable proof of the superintendency of Divine Providence, as would effectually cure us of rash despondency--and melt our hearts--with devotional aspirations--till we poured forth the effusions of our souls in praise and thanksgiving.""","",2013-07-11 21:40:44 UTC,"Vol. I, letter xliv"
7934,"",Reading,2014-06-19 19:32:25 UTC,"This universal benevolence, how noble and generous soever, can be the source of no solid happiness to any man who is not thoroughly convinced that all the inhabitants of the universe, the meanest as well as the greatest, are under the immediate care and protection of that great, benevolent, and all-wise Being, who directs all the movements of nature; and who is determined, by his own unalterable perfections, to maintain in it, at all times, the greatest possible quantity of happiness. To this universal benevolence, on the contrary, the very suspicion of a fatherless world, must be the most melancholy of all reflections; from the thought that all the unknown regions of infinite and incomprehensible space may be filled with nothing but endless misery and wretchedness. All the splendour of the highest prosperity can never enlighten the gloom with which so dreadful an idea must necessarily over-shadow the imagination; nor, in a wise and virtuous man, can all the sorrow of the most afflicting adversity ever dry up the joy which necessarily springs from the habitual and thorough conviction of the truth of the contrary system.
(text from http://www.econlib.org, VI.ii.45; cf. p. 235 in Liberty Fund ed.)",,24029,"","""All the splendour of the highest prosperity can never enlighten the gloom with which so dreadful an idea must necessarily over-shadow the imagination; nor, in a wise and virtuous man, can all the sorrow of the most afflicting adversity ever dry up the joy which necessarily springs from the habitual and thorough conviction of the truth of the contrary system.""","",2014-06-19 19:32:25 UTC,""
3986,"",Reading in Google Books,2014-07-30 14:58:56 UTC,"5. Another Reason may be the exceeding great Difficulty of the Argument, there being not any one Subject perhaps of a more refined and elevated Nature, or that will carry a Writer through a larger Sea of matter of the most Abstract, Sublime and Metaphysical Considederation. The application of our Thoughts to other Subjects is like looking upon the Rays of the Sun as it shines to us from a Wall, or upon the Image of it as it returns from a Watry Mirrour, but this is looking up directly against the Fons veri lucidus, the bright Source of Intellectual Light and Truth, and staring, with a full-levell'd Eye, the great Luminary of Spirits in the very Face. And tho' Truth be the Food of the Soul, and the relish of it be very Delicious and Savoury to its Tast, and tho' even in this Sense also Light be sweet,and a pleasant thing it is to the Eye to behold the Sun, yet it is painful and troublesom to behold it So, and Men Love Shade and Darkness, rather than so strong and so high a Tide of Light.
(I, pp. 5-6)",,24371,"","""The application of our Thoughts to other Subjects is like looking upon the Rays of the Sun as it shines to us from a Wall, or upon the Image of it as it returns from a Watry Mirrour, but this is looking up directly against the Fons veri lucidus, the bright Source of Intellectual Light and Truth, and staring, with a full-levell'd Eye, the great Luminary of Spirits in the very Face.""",Mirror,2014-07-30 14:58:56 UTC,""